Aquatic Toxicity Workshop 2014

The 41st Aquatic Toxicity Workshop (ATW) was held at the Ottawa Convention Centre in Ottawa, Ontario from September 28th until October 1st, 2014. The meeting opened with an extremely informative talk from Maude Barlow, a leading advocate for the preservation of our global water resources and the right of all human beings to have access to clean water. ATW was a great success this year. There were 19 sessions over the three days ranging in topics from Behaviour Analysis in Toxicology Research and as Biological Early Warming Systems (BEWS) for Environmental Monitoring to Risk Assessment and the Nuclear Fuel Cycle. This was also the first year that ATW expanded the scope of the meeting to include topics related to terrestrial ecosystems. For example, the session this year included Sediment and Soil Toxicity Method Development and their Application and Assessing Wildlife Ecotoxicology. Approximately 160 platforms and 52 posters were presented in the various sessions. ATW provided a number of opportunities for students to interact with accomplished mentors from industry, academia, and government through the Speed Mentoring Night, Student Session Co-Chair opportunities, and Student-Mentor Co-Judging. At the annual general meeting at the end of conference, the Board of Directors announced the changing of Aquatic Toxicity Workshop to Canadian Ecotoxicity Workshop after considerable consultation with the membership. Guy Gilron of Borealis Environmental and Lisa Taylor of Environment Canada were elected as new members of the Board of Directors. ATW is a great opportunity to hear about the latest work being conducted in the field of environmental toxicology with a Canadian spin, while developing new fruitful relationships and/or catching up with old friends. The 42nd Canadian Ecotoxicity Workshop (CEW) will be held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. For more information, go to www.ecotoxcan.ca.